The way to Love God

It is natural to express your feelings to the person you love.Nevertheless, what if you express love in your own way without considering that person’s feelings? You may even end up doing something the person dislikes. Can we call this true love?

Then, how should we express our love toward God? If we truly love God, we should not insist on our own thoughts and opinions. God says, “ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts “ (Isa.55:9). So we should express our love toward God in accordance with God’s ways which are described in the Bible.

God says, “ If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Let us realize the great providence of God by studying the relationship between loving God and obeying His commands.

IF You Love God, You Will Obey What He Commands

Two thousand years ago, God came in the flesh to open the way to eternal life and salvation and to teach us how to love Him.

Jn.14:15-21 “If you love me, you will obey what I command… Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.

Through the above verses, we can understand that obeying God’s commands is an expression of our love toward God. Those who truly love God treasure God’s commands and strive to keep them.

In a vision, the Apostle John saw the saints obeying God’s commands in the last days.

Rev.14:12 This calls for patient edurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

Rev.12:17 Then the dragon ( the devil) was enraged at the woman and went to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

The devil stands in opposition to the saints who obey God’s commandments. Obedience to God’s Commandments is the way to prove our love for God. Then, what can we understand about those who do not keep God’s commands? Their actions reveal that they do not love God.

Those Without Knowledge Keep Man-Made Rules

Jesus sternly rebuked those who claimed to love God without keeping His commands.

Mk. 7:6-9 He replied ,”…. as it is written: These people honor me with their lips , but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” And He said to them: You have a fine way of sitting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

We can keep God’s commands when we respect God’s word and have love for God. The reason many people easily set aside God’s commands and hold on to the traditions of men is that they lack faith and love toward God. God , who examines the hearts of all people, will never acknowledge them no matter how much they claim to love Him.

They cannot understand the truth because God does not grant them spiritual wisdom.

Isa.29:13-14 The Lord says: “ These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of wise will perish, the intelligent of the intelligent will vanish.”

The reason even well-educated and wise people follow rules taught by men is that they have not granted wisdom to understand God’s word. Consequently, many theologians cannot understand God’s laws no matter how diligently they study the Bible.

Jer.8:7-9 “ Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. How can you say, We are wise , for we have the law of the Lord,”

… The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have ?”

Even tiny creatures like birds know the appointed seasons and observe the time of migration. However, those who call themselves God’s people do not know the requirements of God.

Those people who keep man-made rules insist on teachings which contradict the Bible. They cannot see what is clearly written in the Bible because wisdom and understanding have been kept from them. No matter how many times they read the Bible, they will fail to understand God’s providence of salvation. How unfortunate!

To be continued…